See the Bible Through Jewish Eyes BIBLE STUDY WITH DR. RICH FREEMAN
Hebrews 10:19-25
A New and Living Way to God
The writer of Hebrews begins the next section with
the phrase, “Therefore, brethren.” Writing to
believers, he is saying that all believers now have
access to God, or an open invitation, to enter the
holy place and to do it with confidence. This verse
is reminiscent of Hebrews 4:16, which says, “Let us
draw near with confidence to the throne of grace.”
The reason for the confidence wasn’t due to anything
on their part, but, rather, because
of the blood of Jesus. He calls this
confident access to God, “a new and
living way.” It is new because Jesus’
sacrificial death for us has created a
completely new situation. It is living
because this new way is connected
to our Messiah Jesus who has risen
from the dead. He is alive!
Under the old Levitical system,
that privilege was reserved only for
the high priest and only on Yom
Kippur, the Day of Atonement,
after a series of very specific
sacrifices were made for the priest,
for his family, and for the people of
Israel. But our great priest is not a
Levitical high priest, but, rather,
our Great High Priest according to
the order of Melchizedek, and He
sits at the right hand of the Father,
“over the house of God.” In view of
all that has been done for us, the
writer of Hebrews gives a three-fold
exhortation of how every believer
ought to be responding. Each one
of the exhortations begins with the
phrase, “Let us.”
The first exhortation states, “Let
us draw near.” This phrase describes
a posture of worship, of drawing
near to God, which is done by drawing near “with
a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.” The writer
is describing a real devotion to God from a mature
faith and uses two descriptive phrases to explain how
that is possible. “Having our hearts sprinkled clean
from an evil conscience,” uses the sprinkling of blood
imagery from the Levitical sacrifices. It pictures
justification in which believers are declared righteous
and free from guilt or a guilty conscience. Second,
“Our bodies washed with pure water,” is sometimes
said to be speaking of baptism, but more likely it
is the progressive sanctification cleansing that begins
at salvation and continues through the work of the
Holy Spirit.
The second exhortation states, “Let us hold fast
APRIL 2018 / THE CHOSEN PEOPLE - 6
the confession of our hope without
wavering.” This exhortation to hold
fast to our hope is emphasized in
this epistle. Our blessed hope is the
fact that Yeshua is the Messiah and
He promises to return for us and
reign as King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. It is an exhortation to
persevere in the midst of very trying
circumstances. The writer adds “for
He who promised is faithful” as the
basis of our perseverance. Regardless
of our circumstances, we need to
hold fast to our hope, our blessed
hope, because of the faithfulness of
our Messiah.
The first two exhortations
were geared to the individual; the
last exhortation is geared more
toward the body of believers. “Let
us consider how to stimulate one
another to love and good deeds.”
The context suggests that some
believers were abandoning the faith.
Therefore, we, the body of Messiah,
are to carefully consider how we
might cause one another in the
body, through love and concern for
one another, to live godly lives for
Him, do good deeds, and uphold
faithfulness to our Messiah. This
type of love is communal in nature and cannot be
done apart from other believers. We must encourage
one another to fellowship with other believers and
not to be isolated. As this is done, we must be mindful
of the reality that we are getting closer and closer to
the end of days and, therefore, should recognize the
urgency of the exhortation. He is coming soon!
Dr. Rich Freeman, D. Min.
serves as the Vice President
for Church Ministries and
Conferences with
Chosen People Ministries
and lives in South Florida
with his wife, Julia.
Hebrews 10:19-25
19 Therefore, brethren, since
we have confidence to
enter the holy place by the
blood of Jesus, 20 by a new
and living way which He
inaugurated for us through
the veil, that is, His flesh,
21 and since we have a great
priest over the house of
God, 22 let us draw near
with a sincere heart in full
assurance of faith, having
our hearts sprinkled clean
from an evil conscience and
our bodies washed with
pure water. 23 Let us hold
fast the confession of our
hope without wavering,
for He who promised is
faithful; 24 and let us consider
how to stimulate one
another to love and good
deeds, 25 not forsaking our
own assembling together,
as is the habit of some, but
encouraging one another;
and all the more as you see
the day drawing near.